Tombstone epitaph., 1887-10-08
MILITARY NOTIONS OF LAW.

From san rranclsCo Chronicle. General Howard has sent . second telegram to Governor Zulick of Arizona. This time he informs him that "no troops can lawfully be used in civil pro. cess, so that injudicious action brings war" This telegram does not read very smoothly, but it may be presumed to mean that troops cannot aid the authorities, as such action on the part of the military brings on war.
 The General, commanding the divis- ion, does not seem to understand the sit. uatlon. The facts are, briefly, these: Eskiminzln and some of his followers, who are not reservation Indians at all, committed depredations in Arizona. The Sheriff of Final County, undertook to arrest them, but they resisted, and made their way to the San Carlos reser- vation. Thereupon the Sheriff notified the authorities at San Carlos that he would go with posse to arrest the In ,ians who had committed the outrages, and asked the aid of the military in mak- ing the arrest. The facts were tele- graphed to this city, and an officer was sent from San Carlos to.Arivaipa, where the arrest was proposed to be made. When the Sheriff got there, he was per milted to arrest six of the Indians. but Chiet Eskiminzin, and some of the others, had fled. It is for the capture of these that Sheriff Fryer asks the aid of the military, which, General Howard says, the law cannot permit him to have.
 The most elementary treatise on law would show General Howard that the military were not asked to be used Ill civil service. The arrest of these men is branch of criminal, not civil, pro- cedure, and it is certainly within the spirit, if not the precise letter of the duties of the troops in Arizona, to CO., operate with the authorities of the Terri tory, m compelling the Indians to obey the laws, or in punishing them if they disobey. Arizona is partly under civil and partly under military government, and there would be just as much reason in the citizens refusing to aid the military to capture Indians who had escaped from the reservation, as for the military to re. fuse to aid the officers of the law in en- forcing the laws against Indians who are not reservation Indians.
 Nor is it entirely clear that Genera Towards position is supported by the letter of the law. The Revised Statute: of the United States provide that super intendents, agents and sub-agents, shal endeavor to procure the arrest and tria of all Indians accused of committing an, crime, offence, or misdemeanor, and tha the President may direct the militar. force of the United States to be em. ployed in the apprehension of such In dians. It would certainly seem as if tn law was ample to cover the request c Sheriff Fryer, and that General Howar' laid down the law unadvisedly, to Gov ernor Zulick.
 It is true that it may not be very agree able to the military to form part of
 Sheriff's posse, but the peace of tn Territory, and the enforcement of tn law, is of much greater consequence tha
 the proud stomach of the officers of tn
 regular army. They are but the servant
 the people, after all, and they shout
 ,e willing to do whatever is required (
 them, consistent with honor, and sett
 questions Of etiquette and precedene
 after the marauding Indians are caugl
 anu lodged in some safe place of con